Kate Middleton, now-Duchess of Cambridge, ain't looking too great these days.
Well, at least, not in her new portrait!
The painting by Paul Emsley was unveiled at the UK's National Portrait Gallery last week and...er...well...they may not necessarily know much about art, but most of The Great Unwashed know they don't like the way the Duchess is portrayed. "She looks like the head bouncer in a security firm," one commenter posted on The Daily Telegraph's website. Someone on The Guardian's website posted: "It's really tragically awful."
The gallery commissioned Paul Emsley to produce the the head-and-shoulders portrait. The biggest complaint is that it puts about 20yrs, and possibly 20 pounds, on the duchess, who's 31 and as slender as they come (despite being pregnant). It's somewhat hazy, as if it's a photograph that's heavily airbrushed to disguise the subject's age wrinkles.
David Lee, former editor of Art Review magazine: "It is perfectly adequate for the boardroom of a supermarket but entirely inadequate for a national collection."
Waldemar Januszczak, art critic for The Times of London, said it's the boring type of royal painting "we've been churning out for the last few hundred years in Britain."
In The Guardian, Charlotte Higgins said: "If Kim Jong-un, supreme leader of North Korea, had a portrait painted of himself in a similar idiom, we'd all be crowing about the pitiful taste of foreign despots."
So the general feeling? It's no Mona Lisa. On the other hand, it provided a fine opportunity for the public to engage in one of its favourite activities: ridiculing anything connected to the Royals.
So...what do YOU think? The Duchess herself called it "absolutely brilliant"..and I guess her opinion is all that really matters.
Well, at least, not in her new portrait!
The painting by Paul Emsley was unveiled at the UK's National Portrait Gallery last week and...er...well...they may not necessarily know much about art, but most of The Great Unwashed know they don't like the way the Duchess is portrayed. "She looks like the head bouncer in a security firm," one commenter posted on The Daily Telegraph's website. Someone on The Guardian's website posted: "It's really tragically awful."
The gallery commissioned Paul Emsley to produce the the head-and-shoulders portrait. The biggest complaint is that it puts about 20yrs, and possibly 20 pounds, on the duchess, who's 31 and as slender as they come (despite being pregnant). It's somewhat hazy, as if it's a photograph that's heavily airbrushed to disguise the subject's age wrinkles.
David Lee, former editor of Art Review magazine: "It is perfectly adequate for the boardroom of a supermarket but entirely inadequate for a national collection."
Waldemar Januszczak, art critic for The Times of London, said it's the boring type of royal painting "we've been churning out for the last few hundred years in Britain."
In The Guardian, Charlotte Higgins said: "If Kim Jong-un, supreme leader of North Korea, had a portrait painted of himself in a similar idiom, we'd all be crowing about the pitiful taste of foreign despots."
So the general feeling? It's no Mona Lisa. On the other hand, it provided a fine opportunity for the public to engage in one of its favourite activities: ridiculing anything connected to the Royals.
So...what do YOU think? The Duchess herself called it "absolutely brilliant"..and I guess her opinion is all that really matters.
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| Kate's portrait and artist Paul Emsley (with beard) |
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